


Rivaling Dimensions

by Whathecheeze



Category: Yu-Gi-Oh!
Genre: Atem is a shit, Dark Magician of Cockblock, Epic sadness ahoy, I mean from the sads, I promise the ending is happy, I'm not that big of an asshole I promise, It Gets Better, It's time to camel, M/M, Mokuba is the literal best, Seto is so done, Sherlock (BBC) - Freeform, The King and I, Tis but a scratch, When is not?, Yuri on Ice - Freeform, mermaid au, voltron legendary defender - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-09-15
Updated: 2017-09-15
Packaged: 2018-12-30 05:46:31
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 8
Words: 18,913
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12102069
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Whathecheeze/pseuds/Whathecheeze
Summary: Set at the end of DSOD. Seto sets off to find Atem in the afterlife. You didn't think he REALLY made it there on the first try did you? This is a series of Seto's failures trying to get to Atem with a magically enhanced technology he doesn't understand. Not only does he have to face the perils of each world, but his own feelings along the way, which he frankly feels is the worse of the two.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I want to thank the HELL out of a bunch of people who kept me going through this entire mess. blue_eyesgirl_fic for pushing me and talking me through it. Live_With_Love for helping with Seto's voice when I couldn't hear it. I would also like to thank my bad ass artists Ochibrochi and Jellifisk who did some AMAZING art later on in the fic, so keep an eye out.

Seto settled himself into his seat, the luxurious leather fitting against him like a glove. No expense was spared in making the Dimensional Dueling System. Each system was state of the art. Calibration, gimble, and thrust were all of Seto’s own systems, each one put through grueling tests in order reach the only level Seto Kaiba and his company would settle for: Perfection.   
Mokuba’s face was in his peripheral and he felt an ache in his chest. Leaving Mokuba was the hardest thing he would ever do. Seto knew this. He and Mokuba had never been apart from each other. They were a team, but they were at stall. He had run simulations multiple times, but there was only one thing left to do: A live man test. 

He knew he couldn’t bring Mokuba with him. Not for this. It was too dangerous. He didn’t know how long it would take him to get back. Seto was relying on something that he didn’t even fully trust, and sure as hell didn’t understand: magic. Seto wasn’t stupid, more than that, he was a genius. He was a man of science and rational thought, and though he tried to push it as far from his mind as possible; he had seen things that were undeniable. 

From others, and from him. That was the whole point of this, of EVERYTHING: Atem. His rival. His at times teammate and at one point, someone he thought someday he could have called friend. That was not to be. Atem left without a word to him. Finding out what was happening from Yuugi Motou of all people had Seto seething all over again. It was almost unforgivable.   
Almost being the key word. There were too many questions he had to let it lie. He had been told next to nothing about Atem, and that was unacceptable. Certainly, he could go and find Yuugi and ask his questions. Yuugi would probably answer them, but Seto wanted to hear those answers from Atem himself. He wanted to see the look on his face when he explained why him and Mokuba weren’t good enough to make to his little farewell gathering. He should have been there. Isn’t that how this whole friendship thing worked?

Seto was seething again, and he needed to concentrate. He took several deep, calming breaths. He would get his answers, and soon. He refused to fail! He would hold Atem responsible for his actions! “Everything is set up, and all instrumentation is looking good, Seto.” Mokuba, He turned his focus to his brother now. He had grown so much, but the worry etched into his brow was an all too familiar reminder that he was being just as reckless as he had before. Then again, when was he not reckless when Atem was involved? 

“Perfect,” Seto answered as he began the startup sequence. Mokuba interrupted him again. “Hey Seto, the new duel disk numbers are in! It’s a big hit.” Seto smiled, of course it was a big hit. Duel links was set to be the best-selling game platform of all time in just the few hours it had launched. How could it compare with anything else? Duels come to life in a virtual world? No one would out do that. Except himself. There was more power in Duel Links than anyone knew, the collective mind was a force to be reckoned with, and without it, he wasn’t sure if cube would work properly. Thankfully he had all of the collective consciousness he needed in order to succeed. 

“Thank you for the update, Mokuba,” Seto muttered as he did one last system wide check. “But I really need to concentrate right now.” He was go. The computer green-lighted for him and now all that was left was to say goodbye. 

“Seto, are you sure you wanna go through with this?” Mokuba asked as he checked stats, because he wasn’t stupid. His brother was going, and there was nothing he could do about it. That didn’t stop him from worrying. “We haven’t even tested this prototype, not fully. It’s too dangerous.” A frown pulled at his face. Mokuba knew the risks. Seto told him everything. Sure, Seto could get to the afterlife, the cube and Duel Links would see to that, but getting home? That was trickier. They were launching now from a highly-charged copper tube, that was fueled by the KC space station. They were putting every bit of power they had into making sure there was enough to push the time and space dimensional limits. A very specific speed had to be reached in order for Seto not to burn up in the dimensional rift. They had done the calculations and tested it before, but without the cube. They had no idea what would happen once the device activated. 

More than that, they had no idea how to get Seto back, and the only reasonable answer (And reasonable was laughable at best) was magic! Magic! The thing Seto didn’t trust and ignored as much as possible without out right deny it’s existence. That’s how Mokuba knew it was serious. Seto was the one that suggested it. Somehow Seto thought there would be enough magic and collective conscious in the afterlife to get him home, and that’s where Mokuba worried. Not the consciousness, that part was easy. It was the afterlife, but hoping that Atem knew enough people that could use their powers to send Seto home? That was the part where Mokuba had his doubts. 

Seto didn’t answer and that had Mokuba’s panic flooding his body. “Seto!” He called out leaning in to look at the screen. “Seto!” Another plea. 

Seto turned and smiled at the screen. “It’s time.” It was strange to see his brother so at peace. He seemed…not as sharp, and you know what, if this is what Atem did for him, then he wanted Seto to find him. Mokuba too in the smile that tipped his big brothers cheeks and he hadn’t ever seen that before Atem. He knew that Atem brought out something in his brother that no one else ever had. He also knew Seto was confused about what it was, or what it meant. That’s why when he told Yuugi, “You’ve got your bond with him, and I’ve got mine.” Mokuba knew his brother was going to stop at nothing to see Atem again. He needed answers, and Seto never let questions lie. He needed to know, and so he would. 

“You’re in charge, Mokuba.” This was it, he was really going. Mokuba almost collapsed under the worry. They would have no way to communicate, no way to tell if Seto had even made through the dimensional rift. “Seto,” Mokuba said placing his hand on the screen. “Promise me you’ll come back.” 

That was the thing, as much as Seto wanted to, he couldn’t. He never lied to Mokuba, he wouldn’t start now by making a promise neither one of them knew he could keep. He gave his brother a small smile, the only reassurance he had. “Duel Dimension System Activate!” He commanded. Alarms began to sound and the anti-gravity door closed. He felt the clamp disengage and the thrusters turn him into position. 

The sight of the earth staring up at him through nothing more than a glass tube made Seto wonder if perhaps he had been too hasty in his calculations, but there was no time to think on it as the rocket thrusters kicked in. The fact he was sitting on the fuel line proved he had been in a hurry to complete the launch pod, well this version of it. There had been many before this, none of which could handle the power of the dimensional rift or the best simulated rift they could create. This one however did. Maybe it was the new material, or the fact he now had the cube, but whatever it was, the launch pod was stable. 

Seto had known after his trip with Sera at the beginning of the Duel Links test run, that speed was essential to reach the rift. As soon as he realized he couldn’t do it in a pod just lying there, he had a power hub added to the KC space station. It boosted his speed and power in one go, using the conscious mind power from Duel Links. He had to activate the cube at the exact precise moment the booster hub kicked in. His hand reached out, and paused. It was almost as if it was calling to him. Without a growl of determination, Seto slammed his hand down and everything changed in an instant. 

The tube burst into flecking gold as he hit the rift. Colors flashed brightly in his eyes. He maintained his connection with the cube, even though the journey was extremely treacherous. He could hear alarms going off, but he couldn’t do anything now. The most important thing at this point was focusing. The pods temperature was rising and he could even feel the heat on his boots, too much more of this and he would be sitting in the middle of a fire ball. 

Just as it felt as if his boots were beginning to melt, the pod came to a halt, stilling it space. In front of him lay what looked like a strange barrier shimmering gold. Activated the manual controls and pushed through…Atem was waiting.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Seto has no idea what going on, but he doesn't like it, and just when in the HELL did Atem learn to ice skate?

Once Seto’s eyes had adjusted to a flash of golden light, he took note that he had absolutely no idea where he was. His body tensed at being in an unfamiliar surrounding. He reached into the pocket of his suit, which he shouldn’t have been able to do. He had very specifically nixed pockets in the dimensional suit because the material which it was constructed of made them virtually useless. Still, into his pocket he went and pulled out what could only be described as a state of the art cell phone. However, it wasn’t Kaiba Corp tech. 

Seto sneered and immediately began pinpointing things that could be improved. It was too heavy, the screen was too small and the home button was located in an awkward place. He was so engrossed in his upgrade endeavor, he didn’t pay attention to the figure approaching rapidly. In fact, it wasn’t until he heard a grinding noise that Seto even looked up. 

He almost dropped the phone because there in all of his irritating glory was his rival. Atem’s hair was pulled back in a ponytail and Seto noted immediately he liked the new style. He took in the clothing the other was wearing. The dark jeans and simple v neck t-shirt came as a surprise considering the only outfit he had ever seen Atem in was Yuugi’s school uniform. 

“Seto, are you alright?” Atem asked brow furrowed with worry, which quickly turned to irritation. “Were you even watching?” He huffed. Watching? Watching what? It was then Seto noted Atem was on ice skates. Ice skates? Where was he? 

“And now you’re not even listening.” Atem’s eyes flashed with fire. “I’m going to run it again. Please watch me this time.” He skated out to the middle of the ice and Seto prepared himself to be utterly bored. Certainly Atem was graceful. Everything he did was graceful. So even if it was a mediocre routine it would probably at least look nice. 

Seto’s attention was drawn back to the phone, though his thoughts were on where he was. He remembered the golden barrier, flying the launch pod towards the floating islands that were beyond it. He tried not to think about random islands floating in space but then again, he wasn’t even sure that’s where he was. There had been a flash of light and then he was here. 

Music began to filter out of the speakers, echoing off the rink walls and Seto looked up. What he saw was far from mediocre. He didn’t know much about this sport, but he knew about being a professional, and that’s what Atem was. It took him exactly ten seconds to realize he had underestimated his rival once again. Atem was….breathtaking on the ice. His twirls were graceful as if he was flying, and his jumps were powerful like a jungle cat. The song went on and on and even though Seto worked out every morning, he didn’t understand how Atem was still going. The song was heart wrenching in places, and Atem’s feet were a blur at times, gliding, skipping over the ice. Seto was utterly captivated. 

When the song ended. Seto stood, mouth slightly agape before he checked himself. Atem was panting holding the finishing pose. His tanned cheeks were flushed a bright pink, and Seto took note that this was Atem’s own body, not Yuugi’s. Interesting.   
“Alright,” Atem skated back, voice still heavy with exertion. “What did you think of that?” He asked leaning on the wall next to Seto. 

What was he supposed to say? It was magnificent, amazing, one of the most captivating things he had ever seen, and yet all that managed to come out was: “It was very good.” 

Atem just stared and spun around so he was facing Seto. “AND?” He pushed. 

“And I liked it very much.” There Mokuba, he took your advice and gave a compliment. 

Atem’s brow shot up and he blinked. “Is this some new sort of coaching technique where you let me critique myself because I assure you, I am NOT enjoying it in the least!” 

It was Seto’s turn to look confused. Coach, he was a coach? Atem’s coach? How was he supposed to get through this. Sure he could lie, Seto was an adept liar, in business one had to be, but to get through this he would have to know all sorts of technical jargon he didn’t. The truth then. He sighed and drug a hand over his face. “I’m not who you think I am.” 

Atem’s mouth became a thin line. “How much did you have to drink last night, Seto?” Atem asked stomping off the ice to sit down. He slipped his guards on his skates, and crossed his legs, glaring. If looks could kill, Seto would have no trouble getting to the afterlife. Atem’s would have sent him straight there. “You’re Seto Kaiba, five time world champion! You chose ME, you came to ME and told ME you wanted to coach me! I beat Malik and you moved here. We’re going to win the damn grand prix championship but only if you remove your head from your ass and tell me what I’m doing wrong!” 

That rendered Seto effectively speechless for a moment. How could he prove he wasn’t the man Atem thought he was? Surely there had to be something he could do. Pulling out the phone he flipped to the photos app and...that wasn’t going to help. There were pictures of Atem and him, Atem and Yuugi, and the rest of the group he had never quite been a part of. He tucked the phone away frowning in the direction of Atem’s skates. Skates! That was it. 

“Look, I’m not this champion you think I am, and I can prove it.” Atem’s eyes latched onto Seto’s sapphire ones and for a split second, he lost his words. “I have skates here I presume?” Atem nodded. “Fine, go get them. I have been ice skating exactly zero times in my life, and that will be evident as soon as I step on the ice. 

Atem stood up, almost the same height as Seto with his skates on. He stepped into Seto’s personal space going toe to toe with him. Seto’s heart seemed to stutter in his chest. “I’m calling your bluff.” That earned Atem a smirk from Seto. There was his rival. 

“I expect nothing less of you, Atem.” Seto’s words were fond, and Atem smiled back for a moment, before poking him in the chest.  
“Let’s get this over with then! Just because it’s the beginning of the season, doesn’t mean I have time to be slacking off Seto Kaiba!” With that he stomped off to the window. Anzu popped her head out and they chatted. They were too far away for Seto to hear the conversation, but he saw her roll her eyes before sliding a bag over the counter to Atem.

He gave the flooring the same abuse he had when he left making his point by walking heavily the entire way back before lobbing the bag at Seto’s pretty face. “There, lace up.” he demanded, arms crossed as he threw himself back into his chair. 

Seto’s lips twitched at Atem’s dramatics. “Oh I will.” Seto shot back, mumbling about the high and mighty king of lame under his breath. 

He took the skates out and noticed the blade covering were blue and had a certain dragon on them. Seto smirked, it seemed some things never changed. He could bet money that Atem’s were dark magicians. Seto removed the soakers and set the skate on the floor. Slipping off his high priced Italian loafers he tried to shove his foot straight in. It was then that it dawned on Seto he had never really owned a pair of lace up shoes in his life. 

“What are you doing?” Atem hissed as he watched Kaiba. Snatching the skate from the floor, Atem loosened the laces towards the bottom and followed the pattern all the way up. “I really hope you hit your head or something because I’m getting more livid with you by the minute,” He handed the skate back. “There! You do the other one.” 

Seto mimicked what Atem had just done and then slipped the skate on. Atem outright laughed at him when he tugged on the laces bowing the bottom ones out. “No, gods above.” Atem shook his head and kneeled down in front of Seto talking him through tightening the laces, Seto was intently listening until he saw it. 

A flash of simple gold on the fourth finger of his right hand. Seto’s eyes narrowed into slits. What was the meaning of this? A wedding ring? Atem was MARRIED. How DARE he. How dare Atem marry someone. If he was humping his spouse all the time, when was there time for their rivalry. Seto didn’t like this at all, but he swallowed it all down. He would not shame himself with some outburst...besides he wanted to know who had the other ring so he knew who he needed to dream about throttling. 

Atem had been talking for some time, but he completely tuned it out. “Seto? Seto? You’re really starting to worry me.”

“What?” Seto snapped out of his daydream. “Sorry.” 

“I asked if you were ready to prove to me how awful you are.” he said, offering a hand. Seto stared at that hand but eventually reached out. His eyes locked onto Atem’s as he stood and Seto was lost in them, so much that he didn’t realize Atem had led them to the ice, until the other was gliding backwards on it. 

Now here was a predicament. Seto looked at the rather large drop down to the ice and back up at Atem, whose grin faltered when he noted Seto looked genuinely apprehensive. Seto chided himself. This was ridiculous. He jumped onto moving vehicles. He had excellent balance he could do this. 

“Hn.” he huffed before grabbing the wall and stepping onto the ice. He stood up straight and smirked triumphantly as he only wobbled a little. Of course, one little wobble rippled out into something bigger until Seto was flailing and fell right on his ass. 

“Seto!” Atem skated over, he had fallen hard. There was definitely a bruised tailbone in his future. Atem’s horror increased as he watched Seto curse and try to get up. The key word was try. “My gods, he really can’t skate.” Atem made his way over and stared down at him. “Who ARE you? Where is Seto?” Atem’s skate was at the other’s throat now. Seto’s eyes went wide, but he was wearing a look of almost...pride? Atem stared down at him. 

“I’m Seto Kaiba. Just not your Seto Kaiba. I run Kaiba Corporation in Domino City, Japan where I design a dueling system in order to play a strategic card game called Duel Monsters, which I’m assuming by the things covering the skate blades you still have in this dimension,” The entire time Seto was explaining he was still trying to get up and failing miserably. “I’ve never been ice skating because my childhood was...less that ideal, and me and Mokuba-” Seto stilled. “Mokuba, where is Mokuba in this dimension?!” 

Considering Seto was almost panicking over his brother, Atem answered quickly. “HE is running Kaiba Corporation. He has been designing the Duel Monster cards and duel disks. Of course, I know that you’ve been helping him as well but you’re more of the behind the scenes man at this point.” Atem said, finally offering a hand. 

Seto took it with gratitude and slowly got to his feet with the other’s instructions. “No, no put your knee down on the ice.” “Use your arm to push up and pull against me at the same time.” “No, oh my GODS how are you this bad?!” Finally they seemed to have gotten Seto in a more or less stable position against the wall. Atem eyed him suspiciously. 

“Let’s say I do believe you, which I’m not sure I do. You keep talking of dimensions. You come from a different dimension, so how exactly did you get here?” Well at least that could be answered fairly simply. Seto reached into thin air, closed his eyes and willed the cube into his hand. “With this. It’s got….unexplainable quantum properties that allow me to travel from one dimension to the other by thinking of it.” 

Atem’s brow shot up. “Sounds like magic to me.” 

“It’s NOT magic.” Seto roared.

Atem just laughed. “Alright, fine. Unexplainable quantum properties then. My apologies.” Atem held his hands out to Seto. 

“What?” It took Seto a few moments to put together what Atem was asking. “No. I’m clearly meant to keep my feet on the ground.” 

Atem snorted and shook his head, laughter bubbling up. “You can do this. If the you I know can do this, you most certainly can as well.” Atem’s lip jutted out just a little. “You don’t trust me Seto?”

His eyes narrowed at Atem’s low blow. That wasn’t fair at all. “More than I should most likely.” 

Atem’s brow shot up at that. “I see. Well, now would be an excellent time to exercise that trust.” He shook his hands at Seto impatiently. 

With a sigh, and an apology to his soon to be broken hip Seto extended his hands and placed them in Atem’s. 

“You’re too stiff. You need to glide. You cannot walk on skates. Let your movements pull you,” Atem said as he began to lead Seto into the middle of the rink away from the wall. Seto was trying to listen, but he was also beginning to panic a bit as they left the wall. He began to flail again and Atem moved to steady him by gripping his forearms. “You’re over thinking it, and yes, I know you’re extremely good at doing that. Stop. If you think too much, you’ll fall. Keep your eyes on me and just move with me.” he urged. 

Seto gave a curt nod and tried to do as Atem instructed. It seemed to become easier that way. His eyes glanced over to Atem’s ring, which once again caught the light. “You’re married,” Seto said flatly. 

Atem’s eyes went wide. “Yes, of course I am.” He looked confused, but was still smiling. 

“Yuugi?” Atem’s brow shot up. “Alright, not Yuugi. Anzu?” The skater continued to stare. “Jounouchi, Honda? Someone I’ve never met?” Seto prompted, irritation with the whole thing becoming more evident with every name. 

Atem just laughed and shook his head. “My husband is a figure skater too.” he informed Seto smugly, picking up their pace a little. 

“I see.” Seto said, and no he did NOT see. What he saw was someone who was taking his attention from Seto, and other dimension or not, he knew this other him wasn’t pleased either.

“He’s my rival on the ice.” Seto practically tripped at that. Atem’s grip tightened on him. He had a different rival?! It couldn’t be Seto, he was his coach! So someone else had caught Atem’s eye, and he was furious. 

“He doesn’t wear his ring because it’s too loose on his finger. He kept losing it during practice, so he put it on a chain he wears around his neck.” Atem offered as if Seto gave a damn. He didn’t care about this person who would divide Atem’s time. Atem’s time was his! It didn’t matter the dimension. Atem was still grinning at him and let go of one of his arms to poke Seto square   
in the chest. 

“That hurt!” Seto growled and realized that it hurt far more than a mere poke should have. He tucked his hand against his chest and felt something solid under it. What the hell? His hand tried to make out the shape through his shirt, but it was no good. Atem was still waiting for Seto to catch up, which was infuriating at best. Finally Seto just stuck his hand in his shirt to dig out the offending item. 

The ring glinted just like Atem’s had. It was polished and well cared for. It hung on his neck on what had to be a platinum chain. Seto’s eyes went wide as he realized this was the wedding ring. HE was the rival. “But...how?! How are we rivals if I’m your coach?” 

Atem chuckled. “That’s what you’re worried about? Why am I not surprised. You are coaching me but I have to make my own programs. You can help me with technique but you can’t be in charge of choreography in any way. Because of this, you’re allowed to skate against me in competition. Did you REALLY think I wouldn’t push you to compete? It hardly means anything if I don’t beat you.” 

Seto knew the feeling, but MARRIED to ATEM? Unthinkable really. “Why?”

Atem’s eyes narrowed. “Well unlike YOU, the Seto I know isn’t a giant asshole.” he huffed. 

“I’m sorry. It’s just hard to believe.” Seto muttered, almost losing his balance again. 

“You aren’t with each other in your dimension?” Atem asked sadly. 

“Tch. No, why WOULD we be?” He gripped Atem’s arms tighter, and Atem frowned. 

“I just thought the rivalry always led to us getting together.” Atem said, gaze sliding away from Seto’s own. “I mean it just seems like a whole lot of sexual tension, if you ask me.” 

Seto’s eyes widened once again. Was he going to just continue to be surprised by the things Atem was spouting? Most likely. 

“I suppose I just don’t see what you do between us...you...whatever.” 

Atem’s head rolled to the side and he just stared for a minute. Seto could see the exact moment that Atem’s devious plan came into his mind, because of that smirk. He knew that smirk all too well and he had never seen ANYTHING good come of it. 

A few seconds later, Seto knew exactly what his rival was planning. Atem’s mouth pressed against his own, hands tangling into the hair at the base of his neck and pulling just a little. He stood there like Atem’s own personal Japanese statue. He didn’t respond, he didn’t move because what was happening was irrational and Seto didn’t DO irrational. 

Atem pulled back with a frown just as Seto began to glow. “What’s happening?” Atem said looking frightened. 

“I don’t know, maybe the cube has a time limit on it.” he growled, because that made things much more complex than he needed them to be. The glow became bright enough that Atem had to shield his eyes. The last thought Seto had before he found himself back in the launch pod staring at a sea of islands beyond a golden barrier was: I wonder if this Atem will remember me when HIS Seto returns.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> My tumblr is DuelingDestiny
> 
> Come and scream at me about Yugioh
> 
> Reviews make me sing~


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Freaked out from his first encounter, Seto has NO idea what he's gotten himself into this time. Space? Flying lions? Could it get anymore ridiculous?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warning for implied character death at the end of chapter.

“What in the hell was that?!” Seto gritted out hand going to his mouth like he had finally grasped that Atem kissed him. “Hn, husbands.” He looked around and assumed that the cube threw him back to right before he had flown forward. Clearly he had made a miscalculation somewhere, but he HAD found Atem just not the right one, therefore it was only logical that the fault lay within his own neural capacity. He hadn’t been specific enough to pinpoint the right version of Atem and instead got...whatever THAT was. Not that it was awful. It was still Atem after all. He was still cocky, devious and had a will of steel. All the qualities Seto had discovered in his own version.

But as much as he behaved like his Atem, that Atem was NOT his Atem, and that was the only one that would do.

“So, I need to be more direct in my thought process when I activate the cube,” he reasoned. “I should be thinking more about the rivalry. More about the dynamic between us.” That being said out loud, Seto gripped the controls and flew into the golden wall once again.

FLASH.

He was not in his pod! That was his first thought. His second was that he needed to get a hold of this thing, before he crashed it. Whatever IT was. He felt something brush his mind. “Not Mine.” it said.

Seto hated to admit it, but he panicked a little. “What the hell is going on?!” he said as the thing in his head told him to grip the two control sticks.

“What’s going on is you missed the shot, I took it and you’re awful at this,” A familiar voice came back. “I don’t know how you missed it. It was RIGHT in front of you, Seto.”

Atem. He had missed his mark again clearly and now...he was in some sort of dogfight in...space? The thing hissed in his head that he needed to pay attention and he gripped the throttle and engaged because apparently he was supposed to be shooting things. Thankfully, this was something Seto excelled at. After all, his aim was impeccable.

He took out two of the enemy ships and circled around. A grin was already spreading over his face. Win. That was his objective, oh, and maybe put Atem in his place in the process. “That was a nice one, Seto.” A new voice came over the coms. Was that Ryou Bakura?

“Good call on holding back until now.” Another voice, one he couldn’t quite place but he knew sounded extremely familiar, said.

“You think he did that on purpose?” Atem’s voice sounded bemused. “He missed his shot and somehow he is STILL being praised. Fine. I’ll just have to shoot down more drones than Seto to prove my worth!”

“Atem,” Yuugi’s tired voice came over the comm. “That’s not what we’re trying to do here. Get in formation everyone! It’s time to form Voltron!”

Seto was utterly confused. Form what? Vol….Tron? What was this formation? He threw his mind out at the presence that had been helping him thus far and it was entirely too entertained, still it wasn’t a big enough asshole not to tell him what he was supposed to be doing.

“Seto, are you coming or did you decide to take a nap?” Atem snarked and everyone snickered. Seto merely growled and caught up.

What happened next was not something he could probably explain if he tried. Firstly, they were apparently flying robot lions. How completely ridiculous was that? Secondly, when all of them came together they formed this giant robot? This was like some awful children’s cartoon. It didn’t even make sense what the hell was a Dynotherm?

“Alright Seto, we need the sword.” Yuugi encouraged. Ugh, why was he even part of this and how did he get a giant sword into the hand of a robot made up of a metal lion that he was currently sitting in?!

There was a thing stuck in the panel and the cat thing? Lion was telling him to turn it. Sure. Why not? This couldn’t get any weirder. He reached down and turned the object clockwise and felt an energy source begin to build and released in a blinding ray of light. Seto had to squint to make out the flaming sword that had formed. That HE had made form!

“Alright, let’s take down that canon!” Yuugi ordered, and WHY were they taking orders from him in the first place? If anyone should have been in charge shouldn’t it have been Atem? Of course, Yuugi was a good duelist, he couldn’t deny that any longer even if he wanted to, but Atem was the strategist. Atem was the one who always was one step ahead of his opponent.

“Seto, would you KINDLY pay attention to what’s going on!”

He almost shrank back from the tone of his rival’s voice. Almost. Instead he sneered. “Hn. I don’t see you doing anything productive either.”

“Well I’m about to!” Oh no. Seto knew that tone. That was the tone of a man about to do something stupid. “I’m going to kick the canon to shut it down.”

Seto had been on this “team” for exactly five minutes and he already knew that was an AWFUL idea.

“Are you sure that the BEST course of action?” he asked wryly. “I think maybe the GIANT SWORD I have is probably a better idea.”

He could HEAR the jut of Atem’s chin as he spoke. “Your face is the best course of action and I can do this!”

“That made absolutely NO sense, Atem!” Seto roared. This was ridiculous. He had the sword and Atem was just being STUBBORN! He geared up to swing the sword when Atem kicked a ship at the ion cannon, which lodged itself in the barrel. When the cannon went to fire, it imploded the ship and took almost all of the fliers out with it. They disbanded Voltron in order to pick off the stragglers, Seto enjoying shooting the ships out of the sky far too much.

“Alright team!” Yuugi exclaimed proudly. “Now let’s take it back in. Don’t forget Anzu is going to want to debrief us!”

Everyone acknowledged Yuugi’s words, even Seto gave some indication with a undeterminable noise that he had heard. Thankfully this lion...thing seemed to know how to auto-dock, because while Seto was fairly certain he could figure it out if he had the time, the hangar was coming up quickly and this asshole red lion seemed to think it was funny to wait until the last minute to take back the control and land.

Seto leapt out of his chair, adrenaline pumping and raced towards Atem. “What the hell was that? Did you miss the fact I had a SWORD?!”

Atem’s brow shot up as he tugged off his helmet hair tied back so as not to be completely out of control. He brushed his bangs from his eyes and stared. “Oh you mean the long stick thing you were holding? Was THAT what that thing was?”

His hands were yanking Atem closer by his chest plate before his brain registered it was happening. “You could have gotten us killed, YOURSELF killed, you IDIOT!” Atem’s eyes went wide and searched Seto’s. He was angry that much was obvious.

“You worry too much,” Atem said proudly. “I saved the day. Is it too much for you to realize I might actually be better at something than YOU are?!”

[](https://www.flickr.com/photos/158446089@N03/36436288613/in/dateposted/)

Seto sneered and released him. “There’s HARDLY a chance of that happening.” This wasn’t how he wanted this conversation to go, but Atem was being INFURIATING. In fact, now he was back in Seto’s personal space.

“Would you like to TEST that theory?” Seto almost shrunk back...almost. He could hear something in Atem’s voice he had never had directed at him before...loathing. It startled him. It was foreign and didn’t feel right at all. What was he supposed to say? He was Atem’s rival.

It wouldn’t do for him to back down. “Tch. If you think you’re capable of beating me then please, let’s test it.” His eyes flashed and his blood picked up just like always when Atem set down a challenge, but he didn’t see the excitement answered back.

All Seto saw was hurt, wounded pride and the need to PROVE something. He recognized that was a volatile combination, because he had LIVED it. It was too late however, because Atem was stomping off to his lion. Fine, a quick run, Seto would out fly him and they could be back in time for Anzu’s boring speech about teamwork. Joy. “There’s an asteroid belt a half a varga from here, if you’re not afraid.”

Seto scoffed. “Do I look like I’m afraid?” he shot back over his shoulder as he made his way back to his lion ship. Seto had no idea what a varga was so he just had to trust Atem. Once seated Seto tried to communicate with the thing. The lion scoffed him and Seto arched a brow, this entity seemed a lot like himself when it came to pride. “Fine, but if we don’t go, Atem and HIS lion are going to be considered the best.”

The was a disgruntled rumble in his head before systems started up and Seto was grinning. He had to admit, he liked flying this ship.

They zoomed out of the docking bay and in the direction of the asteroid field in question. On the way Seto tried to talk to Atem, but he was silent and refused to answer him over the comm channel until they had arrived. Needless to say it was a quiet for however long had passed. Twenty minutes? Finally Atem’s voice cracked over the comm.

“We’re here.”

Seto chuckled. “I’m not blind, Atem.”

“I should hope not, or this is going to be more deadly than it already is.” Atem’s voice seemed to have lost the edge and as Seto looked forward, he could understand why. This asteroid field was highly unstable. Gases from the grinding of the space rocks was making it almost impossible to see through to the other side. Other rocks created sparks and Seto noted that sometimes in just the right conditions, both would mix and create explosions from highly volatile chemicals. All in all, this was not an ideal situation for a man who had been piloting a giant robot lion that turned into an arm for less the two hours.

Of course, lack of knowledge had never stopped him before had it? He would have to learn on the job, which was something Seto excelled at.

“First one out past the other end of the belt wins. Lions aren’t allowed to help their pilots,” Now Seto was certain he had heard TWIN grumbles. Could he hear Atem’s lions as well? “The winner is going to win on their skills alone? Are we clear?”

Seto ground his teeth, but managed to hiss out “crystal,” before Atem flew in next to him. “On your marks...get set...go!” Seto jammed the throttle forward and was almost immediately greeted by two rocks slamming into each other. He cursed and yanked the yoke right narrowly missing being crushed. He could hear Atem’s wild laughter over the comms. “This is amazing!” Seto actually had to agree. There was something thrilling about hoping you were good enough to make it out alive.

Both pilots zigged and zagged, dove and turned all the while tossing light-hearted insults at the other. Seto had a smile on his face, it was almost just like dueling.

A few minutes later, Seto zoomed out of the treacherous rocks and thrusted back to stop. He had stopped talking in the last leg because things were getting much too close to be doing anything but focusing on the task at hand. He assumed Atem was doing the same…

But when it had been several minutes and his rival still hadn’t appeared, Seto began to worry. He didn’t even manage to wait another further minute before he was pushing back into the debris looking for Atem.

“Idiot. I told him, but did he listen? No why would he. I’m Atem, three thousand year old Egyptian Pharaoh, who obviously knows more than you about flying,” Seto growled as he frantically searched. “UGH! Who the hell does he think he-”

Seto’s words died off at the horrific scene before him. The blue lion looked like it had gotten caught between two of the stones that created sparks and now the front was crushed and he could see the strange pattered of fire microgravity produced. Seto could see that there was very little time to get Atem out of there before one of those unfortunate deadly combinations of spark-rock and gas-rocks collided together and lit the whole lion up. It would take little time after that for the whole thing to combust.

“Atem! Atem, come in! Are you there?” The visual was shaky but he made out what he THOUGHT was Atem’s slumped figure on the floor in front of the pilot’s seat. “If you die on me I swear I’ll science you back just to kill you again!” Seto was shaking. He had no idea what to do, but he couldn’t just sit here and be helpless. The lion he was in was no less frantic. However, it seemed to compose itself long enough for Seto to understand what it wanted him to do.

There were a thruster pack on the back of his suit. Theoretically, he could jettison himself out of the front of his lion to get to Atem’s and pull him out. Of course Atem would be dead weight if he was still unconscious. Then it would be entirely hit or miss as to whether he could even get back to the red lion, but there wasn’t really any other option.

The red lion communicated that it was fairly certain the blue lion’s mouth wouldn’t open to retrieve Atem, so now he was going to have to open the manual hatch on the top of the head, making it even more complicated.

He pushed off and made his way across to the lion. Seto was really working on chance here, because he wouldn’t be able to dodge any of the larger asteroids and things were closing in faster every second. He managed to grab onto the hatch he was aiming for with only a few bumps and used the thrusters to tug the door open.

“Atem?!” he called down as he slipped into the lion. His eyes scanned the red lit walls almost as if they were washed in a thin coating of blood before his eyes settled on a lump. “Atem!” Seto lifted him up and immediately realized there were several things wrong. One, Atem’s left arm was bent the wrong way. Further inspection showed bone pushing out. He hissed and noted there there a large gash on Atem’s temple, but there seemed to be something wrong with his spine as well. Dammit! Seto KNEW he shouldn’t move him, but they were in a dead piece of machinery about to be burned alive if they didn’t escape. Seto had no choice.

He narrowed his eyes. “I’m sorry, this isn’t the most ideal situation.” he muttered. Of course Atem was out cold. The shock alone probably did it, though there could be a concussion. Seto wasn’t a doctor after all.

Thanks to lack of gravity getting Atem to the hatch wasn’t too hard, and he hoped that aided in keeping his spine and arm straight. He had no time to brace either of them. The ship was getting warmer by the second as internal circuits were crushed.

Seto gripped Atem, set his eyes on the red lion and pushed off, activating his booster pack. Immediately things went from possibly alright to damn near deadly. Just as he had assumed, gimble was completely off. It was like trying to steer with an extra wing growing out of his back. Cursing Seto did his best to keep on course, but he had to over correct several times in order to get the red lion back in his sights.

He was almost there a thin sheen of sweat coating his brow. He had jostled Atem FAR too much for his liking, but at least they were almost there. That’s when he saw the two meteorites coming significantly faster than most of the other ones in this range. Seto could make it...maybe, but only if he gave his thrusters everything he had and hoped he ended up where he was supposed to. Even then there was a good chance he might end up getting crushed. He moved to scrub a hand over his face and...oh right. Helmet.

“I’m apologizing for getting you into this while you’re unconscious, because you’ll be hell to live with if I tell you when you wake up. And you HAVE to wake up. Who else would annoy me the way you do?” Seto steeled himself and activated his booster at maximum thrust. If he thought he was out of control before this...this was madness.

Next thing he knew he was panting and groaning against the side of the red lion. Atem had hit the front of her hard and now all Seto could do was get him in, secure and get him back to the ship so the advanced tech might heal him.

He wasn’t in great shape either he noticed. His booster had ruptured when it hit rock and he had a nasty...plasma burn he suspected...on his back. His shoulder was dislocated. He secured Atem in the back, but his ashen complexion didn’t bode well, especially on someone so tanned as he was.

“Get us back to the castle and the others as fast as possible.” he ordered the lion, and for once there was not laughing, or disagreement. The red lion just zoomed off into space.

The ride back wasn’t far, but it was far enough it had Seto wanting to pace. They hadn’t even docked fully before Seto was out of his seat, moving to unstrap Atem. “Ryou, Yuugi, HELP!” He cried out as they raced on board the open mouth of the lion.

“What happened?” Yuugi asked eyes narrowing at Seto.

“We were stupid. An asteroid field,” he muttered stroking back Atem’s hair once Otogi tugged Atem’s helmet off. “I’m sorry.”

“Where is the blue lion?” Anzu asked coming up to them. Seto didn’t even startle at how much she looked like an alien. He couldn’t afford the concern. All of his concern was with the man in front of him.

“That’s what you’re worried about?” Seto snarled at her. “Your precious tech? He could be DYING. He could already be DEAD!” He stalked towards her.

“He’s not!” Otogi pronounced happily. “Still breathing as far as I can tell.”

“He needs to be a healing pod NOW,” Yuugi said, standing up to Anzu. “We can deal with the blue lion later.” he said more gently.

Anzu nodded. “Yes, of course.” Seto sighed. He didn’t hate Anzu, she was one of Atem’s friends that pissed him off the least but he would fight every one in this ship to get Atem immediate medical attention.

Seto turned to say as much and found...Yuugi’s grandfather? He was ushering up a floating gurney. Once again Seto didn’t have time to dwell on it.

“Here we are, my boy,” he said softly as everyone carefully moved Atem. “This is going to be intricate and complicated at best, so I’m asking you all to stay here while me and Anzu take care of it. This isn’t going to be a normal healing pod situation,” Yuugi’s grandfather twirled his beard as he spoke and Seto had the urge to slap him. Seto growled and those wizened eyes landed on him. He placed a hand on Seto’s shoulder. “I know you want to be there, but I’ll call you as soon as he’s stable.”

Seto grunted a response and allowed them to lead Atem away…

 

Three weeks later and Seto looked awful. His hair was in disarray. He slept less than he used to. He sat in front of Atem’s pod and just waited. Sometimes he would talk to him. He was more aware than anyone that voice could be heard while you were in a coma…

Seto punched the glass, not for the first time, and probably not the last either. He had just returned from a meeting where Anzu and Sugoroku suggested that even if it was a painful process that they needed to find someone else to fly the blue lion.

He had snapped, of course. Punched Yuugi in his precious face and stormed out ending up here. He always ended up here, didn’t he? Right with Atem. This time when Seto’s fists hit the glass there was less force behind them.

“Wake up damn you,” he pleaded. “I woke up for you, BECAUSE of you and now I demand you to do the same for me. You’ve had your time to rest and now you need to wake up and...and fight me! Isn’t that what you like to do? What...we do? I don’t know how to DO this without you.” he admitted, and that was entirely true. He had never said it out loud, but that was the whole reason for this trip in the first place.

“So…” Seto swiped blindly at his eyes, not even realizing there were tears, and when he did he became more angry than he was before. “Get your stubborn ass out here and FIGHT ME!” He didn’t even feel his knees give out until he was kneeling in front of the healing pod hands splayed out over the glass.

A soft golden light began to glow and Seto panicked. “No..NO! I can’t LEAVE him like THIS!” he screamed. “I won’t leave him like this!”

But it was too late. The cube’s timer ran out and Seto found himself back in his launch pod tears rolling down his face as his hands came down on the panel in front of him. He needed to go back and help Atem! He knew it was futile. He couldn’t even get to where he WANTED to go. That much was obvious now. He was stuck in some hellish loop where he couldn’t go back only forward. He scrubbed a hand over his face.

“Fine. So I couldn’t help THAT one. I learn from my mistakes. I’ll do better in the next world.” he said, straightening up, thankful no one saw his few brief moments of weakness.

With a steely and determined look Seto guided the launch pod back into the barrier to see where he ended up next.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> My Tumblr is DuelingDestiny
> 
> Feel free to message me and scream about Yugioh
> 
> Reviews make my heart go pitter patter~


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Still shaken from his last dimensional jump, Seto tries to settle into his new role. A role he likes a little too much.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Once again we've got implied character death? Ish? It's ambiguous. Anywho enjoy detective Seto.

***FLASH***

 

Seto stared down at his clothes in appreciation. THIS was more like it. Although the woman droning on incessantly he could do without. Atem was standing next to him and wonder of all wonders he was wearing...normal clothes? He looked nice too. Burgundy button down, leather jacket and jeans. It suited him. Seto was also noticing he really liked that Atem pulled his hair back. For starters it reminded him less of Yuugi and also maybe he wouldn’t get stabbed by one of those damn deadly spikes. 

 

“So what do you think Mr. Kaiba?” He turned at looked at the woman. She was frail, shaking. She looked terrified. 

 

“Sorry, what?” He said bluntly. Atem scrubbed his hand over his face standing next him. 

 

“About my case.” The woman prompted and Seto simply stared. Case? Why was Atem glaring at him. 

 

“Dammit Seto.” Atem gritted shaking his head. “You specifically ASKED for THIS case hm? And now you’re...you’re not even paying attention?!”

 

There was that word again. Case. What case? A briefcase. No, that didn’t seem quite right. “Alright.” He said carefully. “Why don’t you start over.” He offered to the apparently distraught woman, because he honestly had no idea what was going on. 

 

“Start over?” The woman pouted indignantly. “I just told you everything.” 

 

Seto smirked. “Yes, and I wasn’t listening, so again. From the beginning.” He prompted her once again. Honestly this woman was a waste of his time, but Atem was still glaring daggers and he might have felt a little guilty from the last reality still. 

 

“Fine. My husband, Mr. Kaiba. He’s been missing for a week.” She started over with a huff. 

 

“I’m not surprised, with an attitude like that, I’d be missing too.” He continued to smile, because that’s what Mokuba told him was the right thing to do. “OW!” He yelped as Atem’s elbow connected with his back. 

 

“Could you possibly ATTEMPT to take this seriously?” He hissed. At least Seto had finally figured out this was a mystery case. Oh! It reminded him of Sherlock Holmes! That was actually exciting. He loved Arthur Conan Doyle’s works. It was one of the only things he didn’t mind studying when he was younger and often approached things in the same manner Sherlock did...not that he would ever tell anyone that. Still, a chance to play detective with Atem wouldn’t be the worst thing he could think of. 

 

“Alright, when did you last see your husband, Mrs…” Seto drew out the word hopefully prompting the woman to give her last name. “Gibson.” Atem coughed under his breath. 

 

“Gibson, of course.” Seto nodded. “And where was it you last saw him.” Those were the first questions he should ask weren’t they? He tried to remember back to when he was twelve, pouring over the stories. It made sense. Last known location and time of last known meeting. He puffed out his chest proudly. He could do this. 

 

“We were going our separate ways to run errands. We were hosting a party later on that evening for his new successful business endeavor.” Seto took all the information in while Atem actually wrote it all down on a notepad.

“I see, and you didn’t see him after that.” Seto repeated slowly. 

 

“No.” The woman agreed. 

 

Nodding Seto began to pace around her. “Interesting, and where did you and he go to run errands?” Whirling he turned to look at her. 

 

“I was going to the shops, and he was going to get party supplies. I don’t see what this has to do with any-” 

 

Seto held up a finger. VERY Sherlock like. “And you didn’t see him after that.” His urgency was almost frantic by now, eyes alight. 

 

This time, the woman was less that nice. “No, Mr. Kaiba, I did not see my husband again!” 

 

“She’s lying.” Seto blurted out and pointed to her. “You’re lying.” 

 

“And just HOW would you know that?” 

 

“You just told me!” Seto  said grinning. This was actually fun. “Tell me Mrs. Gibson, do you have any party supplies at your house already, or was your husband buying everything?”

 

She eyed Seto suspiciously but still answered the question. “We don’t have an party supplies. We needed everything.” 

 

“Ha! So then how exactly would you explain the confetti in your hair and the bit of streamer stuck to the bottom of your shoe? You said you’ve no party supplies at home which means that you HAD to have seen your husband AFTER he left the house!” 

 

The woman burst into tears and Seto practically jumped back. “Atem. Why is she doing that?” He looked at her as if she was a bomb waiting to go off.

 

“It might have something to do with the fact you’ve upset her.” Atem suggested, “Although I’d be willing to say she’s just doing it for sympathy.” 

 

“My thoughts exactly.” Seto said grinning at Atem. Atem grinned back and Seto felt like he could probably solve ANY case in that moment. “You lied to me about seeing him again, but you didn’t lie to me about not knowing where he is now. Why?”

 

She nodded, dabbing at her eyes. “I saw him again.” She finally admitted and Seto’s ego ramped up another notch. “But he was rambling, frantic. Something about a cat and how it saw him.” The woman shook her head and Seto had to admit that sounded...well stupid. 

 

“A cat.” He muttered and began to pace again. “A cat saw him. Something...Hmmm.” He snapped his fingers. “Atem, I need to get to a computer.” 

 

“Well there is the one right behind you, Seto.” Atem pointed and Seto noticed his brow furrowing. “I’m fine.” He promised as he slid into the seat. 

 

“Do you need the passwor-oh for the love of-why do I even bother?” Seto was already past the password prompt. 

 

“It’s not my fault a six year old could have figured THAT one out.” Dark fucking magician of course. He cracked his knuckles and began typing frantically trying to remember something about cats that would make sense. “Ugh it’s useless.” He shouted before standing up and hurrying back to Mrs. Gibson. “I need more data. What did your husband do for a living?” He asked before he began to pace. “And was he in the military?” 

 

“He was a contractor for a security company.” Her eyes went wide. “How did you know he was in the military?” She asked astonished. 

 

“I didn’t. Lucky guess. Which branch?” Atem just chuckled and shook his head at Seto’s pushiness. 

 

“Army.” The woman muttered. 

 

Seto clapped his hands. “Wonderful. Perfect...now, get out.” Seto pushed the woman out the door. “Goodbye.”

 

Atem rolled his eyes so hard it was possible that it caused a tectonic shift “You really need to learn some people skills, Seto,” 

 

“She was boring.” Seto shot back with a grin. “Besides. I need time to think.” 

 

“If you’re going to your mind palace, I’m leaving.” Atem said shaking his head and grabbing his keys. 

 

“Wait! No, Atem. Stay.” Seto said still shook up from losing Atem from the last reality. What the hell was a mind palace?

 

Atem’s eyes went wide but he nodded slowly. “Alright.” He moved to sit down in his chair and waited for Seto to figure it out. 

 

Seto closed his eyes trying to remember what he knew about cats and the military. He wasn’t sure, but something clicked in the words the woman had said. “A cat watching him.” 

 

He was silent for who knew how long. Sitting across from Atem as he clacked away on his laptop he retrieved from Seto. 

 

The deeper Seto go the further back he went, until he was a young boy. He flinched at Gozoburo’s voice, but he felt like that was where he was going to find his answer. After all, if anyone knew about something military it would be that asshole.

 

His eyes shot open. “M.E.O.W!” He exclaimed. 

 

Atem’s brows shot up, but without looking up from the screen he responded to Seto with a deadpanned “woof.” 

 

“No. Not..MEOW, Atem! Don’t you see? Of course you don’t. You’re mind is so much slower than mine. How do you ever figure anything out?”

 

“Well why don’t you enlighten me then.” Atem asked shutting the laptop with far more force than was probably strictly needed. 

 

“MEOW is a acronym. “Military, Extraction, Operational, Withdrawal unit.” Seto said with a proud grin. “It’s a top secret operative that removes...problematic people from high ranking units.” Seto explained. “Mr. Gibson wasn’t just in the Army. He had to have been in special ops. A Green Beret. They wouldn’t send M.E.O.W. after someone who wasn’t important.” 

 

“So you’re saying that Gibson knew something he shouldn’t have?” Atem asked. 

 

Seto’s smile went exponentially wider. “Yes! Yes yes yes! Oh, a government involved murder, what did I do to DESERVE this?” Seto exclaimed grabbing Atem by the shoulders and spinning them around the floor in an impromptu dance.”

 

Atem laughed as they made their way around the room. “What has gotten into you?” He asked when they finally stopped. 

“Me and you working together, a murder on our hands? How can you NOT be excited?” Seto was practically flying he was so elated and Atem honestly had no idea what to with him as Seto threw his jacket at him and practically pushed him out the door of their flat. 

 

London, England. Seto noted exiting the apartment. He didnt even have to look to note they were on Baker Street. He hailed a cab and pushed Atem in. “You need to go to the Gibson’s house and look for clues about how Mr. Gibson was in contact with MEOW. I need his background. Find me anything you can about his military career. I’ll meet up with you when I’m done.” 

 

The taxi was about to pull away when Atem called out the window. “What will YOU be doing?” 

 

“Chasing CATS!” Seto called out before stepping into his own taxi with a dramatic flare of his coat. 

 

By the time Seto got to the Gibson’s house he had made quite a bit of headway in the case. Atem met him in the perfectly manicured yard of the Gibson’s. “I’ve got quite a bit of information for you.” Atem said proudly puffing up like a peacock. 

 

“Oh?” Seto attempted to look interested. “Well do tell me all about it.” His smiled felt pasted on. 

 

“You already figured it out didn’t you?” Atem was only slightly disgruntled. 

 

“Of course I did.” Seto said waving Atem off. “It was simple. For me at least.” How easy it was for Seto to find his stride in this role. Atem rolled his eyes. “Of course you did.” He sounded fondly sarcastic and it made Seto smile. 

 

In the end the case was quickly solved. No one was killed (much to Seto’s dismay) and it turned out Mrs. Gibson had turned her own husband in, in order to get a large sum of money from an inside organization. She was now with Jounouchi who was somehow a detective inspector and would be put on trial in a few weeks. 

 

Seto was asked to attend the trial and testify which Atem TRIED to talk Jounouchi out of, because Seto on the stand was never a good idea. He agreed, Atem groaned and they moved on.

The most interesting thing is that happened with the entirety of the case was when Seto found a card with a very familiar name. 

 

“Why in the HELL is HE sending me threats?” Seto had growled. Glaring at the flamboyant signature of Pegasus J. Croford. 

 

Atem’s head tilted to the side. “Who is it?” He asked curiously. 

 

“Oh, you don’t know.” Was Seto’s muttered reply. “Just someone who doesn’t care for me.” 

 

Atem’s answer was a snort. “That really is half the population of the country, Seto.” 

 

He snorted. “Agreed.” 

 

That was hours ago, and now Seto and Atem were standing in Atem’s room conversing about what needed to be done tomorrow. “I hope Jounouchi has something interesting for you. You’ve been crawling the walls for days.” Atem said tugging off his shirt. 

 

Seto’s brow hitched up, but he said nothing. “I’m bored, I’m sure.” 

 

Atem had a snarky comment on the tip of his tongue, when an explosion rocked the flat. The only thing that saved them was they had been in the uppermost part of the flat: Atem’s room. 

 

Even so, Seto ended up in the hospital, in ICU, third degree burns on his arms and back from where he had shielded Atem. 

 

“You damn fool.” Atem growled at Seto’s bedside. “Do you think for once, just ONCE you could not anger someone to the point of homicide? Hm?” He pushed off the chair and began to pace. “It’s not as if it matters to YOU, you ungrateful cock.” Scrubbing a hand over his face Atem whirled on what he thought was a unconscious Seto Kaiba. 

 

“Don’t you think that maybe just MAYBE there are people who would….mmm. There are people who might CARE if your idiotic ass was blown up?” He was back at the bedside now and he flung himself into the chair so hard it scooted back a half a foot. “I care. Hm? I care and you don’t seem to and that’s not FAIR.” He hissed. “It’s not fair and it’s not fair that you keep doing these stupid things that are going to cause me to lose you.” 

 

Seto could hear even if he was having a hard time moving. He could hear everything Atem was saying.  He heard his heart rate pick up on the monitor. His eyes fluttered open and he turned his head to stare at Atem. 

 

“I care.” He said quietly. It took everything in him to say those two words, his vision was blurring a golden light. “No.” He groaned. “No no no.” he wanted to talk more with Atem. Damn it! 

 

FLASH

 

He wasn’t sure if he was still alive in that other reality or not, but he hated the idea of leaving Atem on his own. Of leaving him at all. MAYBE it had something to do with the fact that was EXACTLY what Atem had done to him. Wonderful, now he was angry again, the sadness of having to leave Atem being burned away by the fact Atem left him first. In THEIR world without TELLING him. He growled as he pushed the throttle forward and hit the reality barrier once again. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Come bother me at DuelingDestiny on Tumblr.   
> Scream at me about Yugioh. Message, send an ask whatever.
> 
> Reviews are like pie. You can never have enough


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Seto just really is so done at this point...Just finished.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warning for MAJOR violence and gore in this chapter. Also character death x 2. But also fish, so that's nice...

Of all the places Seto had been, THIS one was ridiculous. He scoffed and stared down at his new...development. “A tail. I have a damned TAIL.” He flopped at him as if it was mocking him and his eyes narrowed. “He had better be lucky I think he is WORTH it.” He was in a foul mood, stuck as a MERMAID….man? Tch, whatever. He didn’t care. Seto was currently trying to devise a way to get out this situation and fast. He didn’t like this at ALL. He felt completely out of his depth and helpless, hiding behind a rock as he watched people on the beach. 

“Seto?” He heard Atem’s familiar voice and Seto’s eyes lit up. Of course Atem was here. Of course he would help him. Seto swam over to the secluded spot where Atem was standing. It was clear to Seto that Atem hadn’t been seeing him for very long considering his reaction. Although if Seto admitted it, he did look amazing. He wasn’t some ridiculous Disney movie mermaid, he looked to be something akin to a lionfish. Beautiful but deadly, Seto had to say that he approved. The brown and tan that blended in bands over his tail suited him, and the spiked fins that seemed functional for defence has Seto admiring himself almost as much as Atem was. 

“I’m here.” His voice was still strained as he swam up to Atem. Thankfully he could swim with ease. Seto wasn’t the best swimmer to begin with. He was always more focused on the martial arts aspect of physical activity. That was useful. No one ever defended themselves with the butterfly stroke. 

“Where have you been? I’ve been calling for you for fifteen minutes.” Atem looked unhappy, arms crossed. 

“You wouldn’t believe me if I told you.” Seto muttered. “Why are you here?”

Eyes wide Atem tried to swallow down the hurt that threatened to push it’s way out of his throat. “I hadn’t seen you in a week. So I...thought.” 

Seto sighed. “I didn’t realize it had been that long.” He had no idea HOW long it had been, but he assumed Atem was making an effort. There was no reason to chastise him. “How are you?” He had no idea what to talk about, he had just been dropped in this reality. He wasn’t generally one for small talk, but he didn’t really have a choice. 

“Alright.” Atem said slowly. What was his issue? Why was Atem acting so TIMID. Atem scoffed at the softness of his voice. “If you have something to say, Atem, go on and say it.” 

“Jounochi told me a story...about a mermaid and how it killed humans.” He blurted out before covering his mouth looking horrified. 

“Tch, as if you need help in THAT department.” His scoff echoed off the rocks nearby. “You are quite capable of killing yourself without MY help.” 

Atem laughed, a huffy thing as he shook his head stepping closer. “Is that so?” Eyes twinkling his toes dipped into the water. “So if I swim with you, you’ll not drag me down to your underwater kingdom and feed to satiate your unending appetite for human flesh?”

The snort he let loose almost had Seto choking. “Where the hell did you get such an idea?” He asked. “I swear Atem your ideas are abso-” Seto paused, as Atem drew closer. Was his eyesight enhanced? Atem’s skin looked almost as if it was glowing. Seto could practically FEEL his pupils dilate. 

He brushed off the sensations but there was something else. Something pooling low in his gut that felt like...attraction? Curiosity? Some strange mix of both? Seto assumed it had to be some mechanism of his current form, but Atem was looking more and more attractive by the minute. 

He smiled, urging Atem closer. Yes that was right draw him in. He needed to get his hands on him and soon. Thankfully Atem was more than willing to make that wish come true as he got within range of Seto. 

He pulled Atem in, inhaling through more than just his nose. All of his senses took him in and Seto was driven by pure instinct to seal his mouth over Atem’s and kiss him deeply. 

Atem returned the kiss and something broke in Seto. An epiphany if you will. The duel didn’t matter. He had told himself he was on some self righteous mission in order to tell Atem he was a liar and prove he was better than his rival. If this loop of realities had taught him anything it was that ATEM was the thing that mattered, not the duel. 

The final piece clicked into place as Seto kissed Atem. This wasn’t just rivalry. He was upset about Atem leaving not because he missed a duel, or Atem lied. He was upset because he missed ATEM. Atem in all of his infuriating glory pushing him always. Always telling him he could do better BE better. 

Seto pulled back from the kiss a little breathless and brow furrowed. Atem of course was smiling, the smug asshole. 

“Well I certainly wasn’t expecting that.” Atem teased pushing a lock of hair off Seto’s wet brow. “But I also wouldn’t mind another.” 

Seto grinned, a genuine smile at Atem. “Is that so.” He said before moving in to kiss Atem again. This kiss was more heated, pushing the limits of decency to the point Seto felt like he was devouring the other. Atem pulled back with a yelp as one of Seto’s teeth caught on Atem’s lower lip, causing it to bleed. 

Atem’s finger ran over the cut, smearing the blood across his lip, not really helping to clean it up at all. Seto couldn’t seem to take his eyes off the crimson drop swelling against Atem’s flesh. What happened next could not have been predicted. 

Seto lunged for Atem, kissing him again, causing Atem to let out a pleased moan. Seto could taste the copper on Atem’s lips and it had him echoing the noise as he began to swim out to deeper waters. Atem was too caught up in the kiss to pay attention until they were beyond the reef. 

“Seto what?” Atem said before he was kissed again, this time Seto deliberately biting into his lip to draw out more blood. 

Seto pulled back gasping. “I’m sorry. I don’t know what came over me.” He hissed as his side fins began to furl out. “I should get you back to land.” Seto sounded confused shaking his head he hooked a arm around Atem’s waist having every intention of taking him back. 

A spiked fin seemed to move on it’s own accord, stabbing Atem in the spine. “NO!” Seto screamed as Atem cried out. Blood was flowing freely out of the wound and that was the last coherent thought Seto had. 

Seto Kaiba had an extremely strong stomach considering what lengths Gozoburo went through in his childhood to make sure Seto behaved. So when he came out of whatever frenzy he was in with Atem’s stomach and neck ripped out the fact he threw up spoke volumes. It appeared he had drug Atem to the bottom of the ocean and he drowned before he had begun to feed. 

Seto held Atem’s body in his arms and even with the remorse, he could feel the hunger of his species creeping up once again. No. No he didn’t want to BE here anymore.

“Anything but this.” Seto though as he pushed Atem’s lifeless body away. He hovered in front of him like a ghost, and the horrified look in Atem’s eyes would certainly haunt him for the rest of his life. He had to get out of here. He closed his eyes, hoping that this reality would just be over if he willed it. 

He had no such luck. Opening his eyes, the tragic sight was still there and Seto had no idea what to do. He latched on to Atem’s body and drug it to a cave not too far away, all the while trying to stave off the hunger that was trying to consume him. 

The cave was occupied and so Seto continued on, dragging Atem’s body in his wake. The hunger was almost unbearable now and Seto didn’t know if mermaids could cry but he was damn close. Another cave was just up ahead but Seto didn’t see the other mermen. 

They definitely saw him. Swimming closer they spoke almost screeches which Seto could understand easily. 

“Brother.” They said eyeing Atem’s lifeless body. “You’ve feasted and not shared?” The more firece looking one of the three said pressing forward. “That is against the code.” 

Seto brow shot up. “As if I care about some code. He is MINE, and I will not share.” He just wanted to be done with this. He was holding back his tears still, because there was no time, and it was impractical. Right now the only thing on his mind was protecting Atem’s body. He had no time to think about the fact he was the reason Atem wasn’t there to help defend them, or that he could still taste the copper of Atem’s blood in this mouth. It weighted heavy in his stomach threatening to pull him down, but no. He would protect Atem. He owed his rival at least THAT much. 

“If you will not share then we will take what is ours by FORCE.” The other hised and the three strangers swam forward. Seto fought eith everything he had in him, and when the fight was over, there were only two of the strange mermen still alive, Seto himself was on the brink of death, but the other two mermen swam off, saying it wasn’t worth it. 

Seto finally retreated into the cave dragging Atem behind him. A trail of blood floated eerilie in the water behind Seto probably from the gash in his side where his insides were barely held in. Once in the cave Seto set Atem’s body down where it floated in the water. Seto turned away hands shaking as the pressed over the substantial wound. 

Swimming over to Atem he settled down. “I’m so sorry. I...I didn’t realize I was going to hurt you or..or I wouldn’t have gotten near you.” Seto had the odd fleeting thought that when he died they would probably both float belly up to the surface. 

Seto snorted. “That’s a lie, we’ve hurt each other knowingly before haven’t we?” He growled. “Because we can’t seem to stay away from each other.” His hand linked with Atem’s and he let go of his side. It was strange to watch yourself bleed out in water. “That HAS to mean something doesn’t it? That it’s always been you and I no matter the circumstances.” He snorted. “It only took me EATING you to come to that particular epiphany.” 

As shock began to set in do to the massive amount of blood from Seto’s abdomen he smiled. “I’ll do it right the next time, Atem. You have my word.” 

The light dimmed in Seto’s eyes and he tucked himself next to Atem with his last breath. 

FLASH

When he was unsurprisingly returned to the cockpit of his ship, Seto’s fist slammed into the pannel in front of him over and over again. He scream, growled and cursed. Tears well, but they were fleeting, but Seto wasn’t sure he could ever get rid of this anger ever again. It felt like a living thing snaking through the pod even as he nursed his split knuckles. Did he even HAVE a first aid kit. He turned and saw it behind the seat. “Mokuba.” He said fondly and his anger ebbed a little at the thought of his brother. He patched himself up as best he could and wondered if he would take the injury to the next reality.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Come pester me at Duelingdestiny on Tumblr
> 
> We can scream about Yugioh
> 
> Reviews are the literally the best.


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Now that Seto seems to understand his feeling will things get better? Eheheheheh. Who knows.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know you're surprised, but there is character death in this chapter.

Atem sat on his throne and Seto had to bite back a smirk. He found him on his throne, which was his aim, but considering the clothes looked to be 1800s Oriental, Seto thought he had missed the mark yet again. He struggled as he was pushed to his knees, by the damn dark magician but not in those annoying purple robes. He was dressed similarly to Atem, though not nearly as ornate. He tried to refuse only to find a sword at his neck. “No man will raise his head higher than the king.” It was an explanation, but also what Seto assumed was his first, last and only warning. He didn’t want to die, because he didn’t know if he would actually die or not. He lowered his head, and the magician smirked knowingly. If he had his dragons right now, he wouldn’t be looking so smug. 

Seto focused his attention on Atem taking in the silk burgundy pants embedded with pearls and gold filigree. The jacket he wore matched the pants and once again his hair was pulled back. The look was growing on him. Atem was dripping with jewelry and Seto checked a scoff. He could feed entire families with his opulence. Seto wanted to say so. Yes he was rich, a millionaire, but he used his money to develop products and help children in need. He didn’t feel he needed to shamelessly show off that wealth. He knew his reputation shone louder than any gold he could buy. 

If anyone had entered the room in that moment, they would have been treated to the most  
ridiculous sight. Seto knew Atem had the power to demand his head be higher than the CEO’s own, Seto just didn’t think that Atem (No matter what form he took) would ever exercise that right. His devious smirk said otherwise. All because Seto had made some idiotic promise prior which the smirking dark magician (damn him) cheekily informed him with an infuriating wiggle of his finger. 

It had been when he had first arrived. A boat, which was certainly better than fins. Although, as Seto stared down at his suit he almost changed his mind. A man at the edge of the ramp he was supposed to be walking down gestured at him. Why did it look like the fucking Dark Magician? Seto grumbled a little. “I can’t get away from him.” Once on land Seto waited for whatever was going to happen. He looked around for Atem. He thought maybe he had landed himself in some strange pirate world, but no one here seemed to fit the bill. The man who looked far too much like Atem’s favorite card gestured for him to come forward. “I am Mahaad, I will take you to his highness.” Seto groaned. Of course Atem was king. 

“There are a few rules you must know.” Mahad had informed over his shoulder. What followed was a solid half an hour of a play card running his mouth about everything you could and could not do in his highness's presence. Before they reached the palace, Seto was made to promise to obey the plethora of decrees. 

“A promise is a promise.” Atem chanted over and over again as he lowered himself more and more. Seto growled and squated. This wouldn’t be so damn complicated if Atem was taller than a fifth grader. Even Mokuba was gaining in height on the short Egyptian at this point. 

Surely Atem had had his fun and his little game would now be over, but no. Now Atem was on his knees and Seto was forced to crouch. A stray thought slipped past that he was glad he wasn’t wearing his leather pants because they would have probably split by now. 

Still Atem lowered himself more. Until he was laying on the floor grinning at Seto with his head in his hands. “A promise is a promise.” The smug little bastard SANG it at him this time. 

“Tch.” He would NOT lower himself. He would refuse. Of course if that happened, Atem wouldn’t trust him ever again and they had been many things to each other. Cruel, angry, disappointed but they had ALWAYS been honest. 

“Fuck.” Seto hissed before laying himself out on the ground. Atem’s grin only grew in size and delight at he watched Seto position himself. Then as if he hadn’t been humiliated enough, Atem decided that Seto was STILL too high and pointed his finger at Seto’s head and then the floor. 

[](https://www.flickr.com/photos/158446089@N03/36436290983/in/dateposted/)

“You’re kidding me.” He asked and Atem just stared smile wide. Seto’s eyes narrowed and he swore he was going to kill the so called king himself as he pressed his nose to the cold marble palace floor. Atem squealed in delight. 

That was pretty much the sum of their relationship. Atem was a spoiled ass and Seto was supposed to teaching CHILDREN. While Seto didn’t hate kids he didn’t think he was exactly a ROLE model for them. After all if Death T was any indication he had some DEEP seeded issues that were buried. 

So the fact that these people expected him to TEACH these children was...laughable at best. Mokuba was a fluke. His brother was the better of them and everyone knew it. 

Of course when Seto found out they were all ATEM’S children the white hot streak of possessive jealous made itself know. The logical side of Seto’s brain informed him that Atem would need an heir to his throne if he wanted to continue his line, so yes of COURSE he had children. 

Still his eyes narrowed at the woman who had bore him his son. It seemed now that Seto had recognized he CARED for Atem, he thought about things much differently than before. Even if this Atem happened to be a narcissistic asshole who literally thought the world revolved around him, he was still Atem.

So, it was no surprise that they beganto grow closer once they actually began to communicate. Seto had to explain to Atem why slavery was WRONG which was just pathetic, but it was the time period and more importantly it had made an impression. 

Atem was throwing some huge ball for officials from all over the world in the next week and so he was having Seto explain the ins and outs of the correct social etiquette to him. He wanted to know EVERYTHING the Westerners would do. So he explained about courses, what would be expected of the meal and then the dancing. Atem had never danced before in a western manner so he demanded (Because King Atem ASKED for nothing) to be shown how. Seto had experience in ballroom dancing. It was required of him when he was growing up. 

Atem was doing well which shouldn’t have been a surprise considering Atem seemed to do well at anything he touched. Atem was muttering along “One, two three, one two three.” As he lead them about the room, when he stopped. 

Seto’s brow rose in confusion. “Why did you stop? You’re doing well enough.” Atem shook his head. “No no no.” Seto threw his hands in the air exasperation etched into his features. “What, your majesty, is the issue?”

“When I have seen people dance they do not dance like this.” Seto blinked at looked down at their hands. Seto hadn’t shown Atem how to properly hold someone while they danced because he was NOT going to get attached to this Atem. Of course he already was no matter how much he kept telling himself otherwise, but Seto was good at denial...he had been practising it for years. 

He was going to reply but Atem had taken matters into his own hands and pulled Seto close. His breath hitched a little and he decided then and there the effect Atem had on him was dangerous. In this world, or any other, but Seto still allowed him to sweep them around the room. Atem’s eyes met Seto’s and they couldn’t look away. Seto had stopped counting step, or paying attention to their direction, and Atem slowed his pace considerably until they were simply swaying. 

Atem leaned in and Seto may have stopped breathing. Seto’s eyes closed and he tilted his head, and that’s when the Dark Magician did what he did best and STOPPED his PLAY.

Cockblocked by a PLAYING CARD. Seto was practically seething and from the smirk on the smug little assholes face it seemed he knew EXACTLY what he had interrupted. With a shake of his finger (Which Seto wanted to rip off and feed to him) he stepped between the two men. He pushed Seto out of the way with a low bow to Atem. “Forgive my intrusion your majesty, but the flowers for tonight have arrived and you told me to inform you.” 

“Yes, yes yes. Show them to me immediately.” He clapped his hands excitedly and Seto smiled shaking his head. 

“And if Mr Seto could, the children are in need of their history lesson.” Mahad said eyeing Seto suspiciously. 

He might have even caught the “I’ll teach YOU a lesson in pain you over powered pile of trash.” That Seto muttered under his breath, but if he did, Mahad showed no sign of it.  
“Tch, Fine.” Seto hissed, expression softening as he turned back to Atem. “We weren’t finished. Until later, your majesty.” Atem’s confused expression had Seto grinning as he walked from the room. Seto would dance with Atem at the ball. He would see to it that Mahad was locked in a closet somewhere if need be.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Come pester me at Duelingdestiny on Tumblr
> 
> We can scream about Yugioh
> 
> AMAZING THANKS TO OCHIBROCHI FOR THE ART IN THIS CHAPTER!!!
> 
> Reviews are the sugar in my coffee~


	7. Chapter 7

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Seto is pretty sure he missed his mark again...Atem is a giant asshole.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter was made because of the audio from Dan Green and Eric Stuart that I had them do at Digicon in Doncaster.  
>  Here's the link:
> 
> http://duelingdestiny.tumblr.com/post/157734826530/guys-i-found-out-how-dsod-really-ended

A frantic guard came tearing into the throne room, sandals slapping the echo bouncing off the walls. “Pharaoh! Pharaoh! There's a strange man approaching!”Atem’s brow shot up at the highly unorthodox intrusion.

Priest Seto seemed to be feeling the same way. “What is the meaning of this? How dare you interrupt the court in such a manner.” His voice was menacing. He would have went on a five minute tirade is Isis hadn't stopped him.

“What is so strange about this man approaching?” She asked, voice barely raising and yet it somehow carried across the great hollow hall they stood in.

Another bow. “Though it sounds strange you must believe me!” He begged without looking up. “He looked like your priest.” The guards finger darted out to point at Seto of all people and Atem’s eyes went wide. He was here. Well…it took him long enough.

“No one needs to worry about the man approaching, he is a friend.” The pharaoh’s lip quirked up a little. The Egyptians were known for play jokes weren't they? This might get him punched but…it could be well worth it.

“Go and meet him Isis. I want you to lead him to believe he’s in Egypt. In fact speak in Egyptian…slowly, he's not very good.” A plan was beginning to form. “Listen to me well.” His voice boomed every inch of the pharaoh they made him once again. “We will do everything as if it is Egypt.” He turned to Mahaad and smiled warmly. “You already know what I'm going to ask don't you old friend?.” Of course Mahaad did, he always knew. He changed from his dark magician armor into his priest’s robes. “Though it feels strange to be attired so, I will comply with your desires as always, besides…” Mahaad’s lips twitched. “I cannot wait to see this.”

The guard and Isis had already left and Atem prepared himself. He turned to Seto and smirked. “You are in for quite a shock, but please don't ruin my fun. Set shook his head. “You are still no better than a child, my pharaoh.” Atem grinned. “Where is Mana?” It's not that Atem didn't love the rambunctious girl, it's just she was awful at keeping a secret, and Atem wanted to see just how long he could keep this going before he could no longer keep a straight face.

“She is visiting the realm of the duel monsters, oh great pharaoh.” Seto said with a bow and Atem, glared. “I am simply practicing for the visitor, oh morning and evening star.” Set's lips twitched and Atem had to look away lest he laugh himself. The guard was back bowing again. “He and isis will arrive shortly, my king.” Atem shook his head smiling fondly. “How quickly you all revert back to titles.”

 

Still, Atem nodded and turned back to Seto. “I need you to watch from the shadows. You must not be seen until after the joke has played out.” Seto gave a sweeping bow and moved into the shadows as he was asked. Good, this was all coming together nicely. Atems plan was a simple one. Lead Kaiba to believe that he had somehow messed up dimension hopping and ended up in the past in Egypt. It was probably not the best idea and yet Atem wanted to get a reaction, even if it was an awful one. It had been far too long since he had seen the fire in Kaiba's eyes and Atem would be lying if he said he hadn't missed it.

Isis diverted his thoughts entering in with the man in question and Atem didn't know why he thought Kaiba couldn't be any more ridiculous. His suit, his tight spandex suit…was glowing neon blue and it reminded Atem of Kaiba's dragons.

With Priest Seto hidden, he could act as if he thought Kaiba was his priest. Atem sat up straighter checking the recognition of his rival. Isis returned to her place with a bow and waited. In face it seemed everyone was waiting for Kaiba to say something.

So he did…

He was confused as to just what was happening here. According to his trajectory he should have landed in the afterlife, but clearly that hadn't happened. Instead he had not dimension hopped as he was planning, but traveled back in time instead. That explained the difference in the rift this time. No one was speaking English and he had to attempt to decode the jibberish of Egyptian. He begrudgingly had to admit he understood it just fine. He could probably speak it too, and after several moments of trying English, (and having the king stare blankly at him) it seemed he was going to have to whether he wanted to or not.

What was he even supposed to say? He was still mad, but for once he didn't want to scream and yell and demand a duel like he had planned. When Yugi held up the puzzle, and Atem hadn't appeared something dawned on Kaiba….

…This wasn't about a duel.

He missed Atem. Missed his rival and yes, dueling was pretty much all they did, but they were…friends. Perhaps more than. It took him a while to figure out what they were, but Seto at least knew. Now what was he supposed to say? In a rare moment of uncertainty, Kaiba began to babble.

“Well, uh, it's quite an impressive lair you have here.” Lair really? He just kept going and it only got worse. Good thing there was no one to see this utter display of stupidity. “Um…took a little while to figure out how to get here, since no one here speaks English, but…it's good to see you.”

Atem almost lost it as soon as Kaiba opened his mouth. He had no idea what was going on with his rival, but he was acting unsure and all Atem could think was it was ridiculously adorable. He opened his mouth to speak, keeping the stern air about him he had adopted since Kaiba had walked into his throne room. He almost ruined the whole thing by calling Kaiba by his actual name instead of priest Seto, but he managed to catch himself before he made the mistake.

“Priest Seto, how many times have I told you not to track in sand?”

Priest Seto? Kaiba's eyes narrowed. He had no idea who that was, or why he was being compared to him, but he knew what Isis had told him when she came out to meet him. That's how he knew he had gotten the jump wrong, not that he would ever admit it. So Atem thought he was one of his priests? He could use that to his advantage maybe…

It probably couldn't hurt.

“You know, I was wondering if you had some time, in between sitting on that throne and doing nothing-“

“Time for what?” This might have been harder than he was anticipating. He knew what Kaiba was going to ask, and he wanted to jump up and scream yes, but weighing that against the fact this was entirely too much fun, Atem refrained, but he was perched on the end of his throne eagerly.

What was he asking? He didn't come here to duel. Well, maybe he didn't come here only to duel, but one little duel wouldn't hurt before they talked, right? Besides it was the bridge between them after all this time.

“Maybe time to duel.” Kaiba heard his own voice and wanted to wince. He sounded far too eager, too interested. Now Atem would realize how much he wanted to duel him.

Atem practically fell out of his seat. There it was. The challenge, the spark, Kaiba's voice was husky with the want to duel him. Atem was in short, a sputtering mess. In fact, he was so taken back he almost forgot what he was trying to do.

“Wait-uh, what's a duel?” Kaiba wanted to scream. What was a duel? They didn't duel here? He couldn't even imagine an Atem in any way shape or form not knowing how to duel. It was completely ludicrous and Kaiba wanted nothing more than to tell his royal highness exactly that. He somehow managed to swallow the scathing reply…

…mostly.

He rolled his eyes and scrubbed a hand down his face. “Oh right, this is in the past.” What else could he challenge Atem to? He liked games. He liked a challenge. Egypt, they had, sand…and… “I don't know. You want to race camels?” Did he really just suggest that? He was so glad Mokuba wasn't listening...or the mutt, he would have never lived it down.

Atem heard a snort from somewhere behind him and he couldn't decide whether it was Mahaad, or Priest Seto. He couldn't even blame them. He was about two steps from losing it himself. His eyes were sparking now, with what he hoped Kaiba would think was delight, and not mischief. He barely kept the laughter out of his voice.

“Yeah! Camels are my thing.” Lies. He hated camels. Vile stinking creatures. He would take his horse any day over those Ill-bred beasts.

At least they were going to be doing something together. Camels weren't ideal, but Kaiba supposed it was better than nothing. He really couldn't help the excitement in his voice, proving once again it wasn't about the duel, but Atem himself.

“Awesome.”

Atem wasn't really going to race camels. There was no way in any life he was racing camels. The time for jesting was almost over. He still wasn't sure what to make of Kaiba's behavior. He seemed unsure and confused and for a moment Atem almost felt bad about toying with him, but he had already gotten this far. He might as well go out with a flourish. He jumped up from his throne, and pointed his finger right at Kaiba, with a bubble of laughter swallowed down, Atem said what he could without a doubt admit was the dumbest thing that had ever come out his mouth.

“It's time to camel!”

And with that he burst into a fit of booming laughter. He laughed until his cheeks were streaked with tears and his sides hurt and still he laughed more. Kaiba just stood there staring in utter disbelief. Atem had never really been stable in Kaiba's mind. Ever since they faced off in duelist kingdom, when he was up on the wall, he knew they were the same kind of people. This outburst just proved his point.

“You should have seen your face Kaiba!” Atem practically howled. Kaiba just continued to stare. Wait…he called him Kaiba, just what was going on here?

Atem flopped back into his throne and shook with laughter. Now he could hear Mahaad and Priest Set cackling from behind the throne, and everyone else as well.

Seto looked puzzled and it made Atem laugh even harder.

“Just what the HELL Is going on here?” He felt stupid, and he HATED feeling that way.

Atem attempted to sober himself and finally Kaiba’s little outburst seemed to quell him.

His priest came out and stood before him, Mahad back in the armor of his duel monster card and not the priest.

Seto’s eyes searched the room and finally landed back on Atem, who winced. “You…this was all a joke?” He hissed before making his way towards Atem.

Atem stepped down from the throne and held his hands up. “A prank yes. Though I am beginning to rapidly regret the decision.”

“Do you know what I’ve BEEN through to get here?” Kaiba felt like he was going to explode with anger.

“No, but…I’d like you to tell me.” Now that Atem was paying attention, his rival looked like a man haunted by ghosts. He had never seen this look before in Seto Kaiba’s eyes.

“Fine, but not here. I’ve had enough of your friend’s ridicule.” With that Seto stormed out of the closest doors not bothering to wait for his royal pain in the ass.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Follow me on Tumblr at DuelingDestiny
> 
> We can scream about Yugioh, or any of these fandoms tbh
> 
> Reviews are like bacon. I can't have too much~


	8. Chapter 8

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I told you Atem was a asshole. Egyptians were known for their pranks. Hopefully Seto doesn't kill Atem. Read on to find out.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> No one DIES!!! Aren't you proud of me?

Atem followed behind cringing at the way Seto was behaving. Perhaps now wasn’t the best time for such a prank, but Atem was Egyptian at heart and they were KNOW for such things. It was hardly his fault he was a slave to his heredity. He had no idea where Seto was leading him and it was clear when they ended up in the equivalent of a closet in the palace. “This is cozy, Kaiba.” Atem teased and the CEO growled. “I didn’t come all this way to kill you, Atem but you are making the idea more irresistible by the MINUTE.” 

Stomping out of the small space Kaiba continued to walk and fume. Atem decided after passing the same set of jars three times, and the very real risk of Kaiba’s head actually exploding to help his rival out. “Think of where you want to be, Kaiba, and you’ll go there.” 

He almost hit the CEO’s broad chest when he whirled around to glare in his direction. “Tch. Fine.” The scenery morphed and they were in Kaiba’s office. Atem sighed. So it was to be business between them was it? Seto too realized his mistake and frowned. This wasn’t how this was supposed to go. “You pick somewhere. My office isn’t the place for this.” 

Atem’s heart kicked up at Kaiba’s admission and soon they were in Atem’s private garden. “I find this place peaceful, and a good place to think.”

Seto snorted. He certainly needed a place like that right now. Atem sat down in front of the pond dangling his feet in the water. 

Staring at the ripples Seto tried to collect his thoughts. He wanted to punch Atem in his smug face for the stunt he just pulled, and still he wanted to hug him, and touch him and make sure the man in front of him was REAL. 

When Isis had found Seto in the desert, he looked utterly discouraged. It was clear that he had somehow not only missed his mark, but time traveled as well. Something in Seto said that seemed a little far fetched, but what would this woman gain from lying? Nothing. So he went in with the assumption that while this was FINALLY his Atem, he didn’t KNOW him. This Pharaoh was not the rival he would come to know.

Still, Seto couldn’t help the way his breath caught in his throat when saw Atem. He was dressed in all his splendor looking bored on his throne. Seto’s heart ached reminding him of the king he just left, but he pushed it own. This was the REAL Atem. He couldn’t find his words. He simply stared. He looked down at his duel disk, but the dismissed the idea almost immediately. 

Atem stood and the sun flashed on Atem’s gold as he stood. Seto took another step forward, and then the Pharaoh (He refused to call him Atem) opened his mouth and he had no idea what had happened. 

The most ridiculous words fell from his mouth from then on out. Lair? Camel racing? What was he thinking? The Pharaoh had thrown him for a loop and then burst into laughter? Just what was going ON here?

Atem explained and Seto’s first instinct was to wipe the floor with his rival. How dare he pull this when Seto had been through so much. Of course Atem didn’t realize that. How could he? Seto staved off the idea of killing Atem (the fact he was already dead was irrelevant) and worked on trying to keep his composure. 

Oh he wanted him to TELL him did he? Well he would tell him every awful, painful, gory detail since that’s what his majesty asked for. 

That’s what he was planning on doing now, but the words weren’t coming out. He ran a hand through his hair and sighed. “I came looking for you.” It was as good a place as any to begin Seto decided. 

“I’m aware.” Atem tone was curt, and Seto’s answer to that was a raised brow. 

“You’re angry about it.” Another clearly stated fact from Seto. 

“You would be right about that.” Atem turned almost whiplash quick at Seto. “Just how exactly were you planning on getting home hm? Did you think that you would have parts? Or fuel? No. No you didn’t think at ALL. Were you relying on the magic of my priests? You came to find me yes, but you did it under RECKLESS conditions. What does Mokuba have to say about this Seto? I didn’t SAVE you to have you throw yourself away on a damned whim!” 

Seto’s eyes narrowed and his words were a hiss of displeasure. “A whim? A WHIM? You may have SAVED me, but you did a half-assed job pharaoh. You sure as hell didn’t FINISH the job! You were too busy being noble and sacrificing yourself. Throwing away your LIFE CHIP and not giving a DAMN about those you left behind!” 

Atem pushed himself up. “How DARE you. I did what I had to do to sa-”

“You did what you had to, to FEEL BETTER about yourself.” 

“You think I DIED TO FEEL BETTER?!” Atem roared. 

“I can’t think of a more compelling reason.” 

“Maybe that I wanted my OWN life? Maybe that I didn’t want to cling to Yuugi for the rest of my existence! Is it so hard to believe I wanted MORE than what the gods were offering?!”

Seto scoffed. “The gods. You cower at THEM? You who takes on all opponents without a thought, usually EAGERLY and you worry about THEM? The GODS, what have they ever done for YOU?”

Atem laughed, it was a bitter thing, coiled in his stomach. “Nothing. They’ve caused me nothing but pain.” He shook his head. “I didn’t WANT to leave. Do you understand? I didn’t have a choice.” 

“You had a body. RIGHT THEN AND THERE you had a body and you...you didn’t even fight, Atem.” Seto’s anger deflated, but only enough to keep him from screaming. “You didn’t fight and you didn’t TRY. You let them dictate your fate.” A sneer. “You were weak and I never thought I would have to tell you that.” 

“Do you think they would have just let me walk away?!” He asked incredulously. 

Seto shrugged like it was casual. “I think we’ll never know because you didn’t make the effort.”

“That’s hardly fair.” Atem said softly. 

“Fair? You want to go there Atem? Alright, I’ll tell you what’s fair. Almost KILLING yourself flying at breakneck speeds trying to get to a duel you were never INVITED to, only to find out you were too late and the ONLY thing left was a pile of rubble in the fucking DESERT! Does THAT sound fair to you?!” 

Atem’s eyes went wide. “Y-you came?” 

“Of COURSE I came!” Seto couldn’t hold it back. “You do realize out of EVERYONE I’ve ever met the only person who touched my life in a POSITIVE way besides Mokuba was YOU.” 

Atem chuckled. “That’s not really true. You had Yuugi, Anzu, even Jounochi whether you like it or not. They were and still are your friends you fool.” 

“It’s not the SAME!” Seto frustration was evident and Atem had no idea what to do with that. 

“Why not?” Atem pushed. “What’s the difference between them and I?”

“You’re…” Seto paused. “You.” He ended rather dumbly if Atem had his say. 

“I’m...me…” Sighing Atem shook his head. “Thank you for that extremely cryptic statement, Kaiba.” 

“Look, I don’t know how to explain it.” Seto’s perfect posture slumped a little and that’s how Atem knew it was a serious matter. “When I tried to get here it took me. I don’t even know how many times. Different places, different circumstances. The cube took me to the wrong destination over and over and over again and there was only one thing in common. You. You were always there in every reality. It was annoying.” 

Atem laughed. “I can only imagine.” 

“At first it was annoying.” Seto continued on. “The first time especially. You were an ice skater.” 

Atem’s brow shot up but he said nothing, motioning for Seto to continue. If felt like they were on the brink of something too big for interruption. Atem had never seen Seto like this before. 

“And you told me.” He chuckled, it was almost nervously and Atem took note. “You told me we were married and I laughed in your face. You and I, married.” 

Atem continued to hold his silence. 

“but then...I lost you. I lost you again, and again and in some absolutely HORRIBLE ways.” Seto muttered a shudder tripping up his spine. “And I was tired of it. I’m TIRED of it. I’m tired of LOSING you, Atem. In ANY reality.”   
He stared at Seto. Atem honestly had no idea what to say. He was dead, beyond the mortal coil. He didn’t think it would be so simple to stroll out of the afterlife as much as he might have liked to at that moment if not just to see Seto at peace. 

“You’ve got nothing to say?” Seto prompted after several minutes of silence. 

Atem bit his lip thinking his words over very carefully. “I don’t know what to say. First I want you to know that leaving everyone was the hardest decision I have ever made in my existence. Leaving my friends...leaving you.” Atem took in a deep breath and exhaled before continuing on. “I didn’t invite you because I was worried. I had a feeling I wasn’t going to win the duel and while I wasn’t entirely certain the stakes, I had my suspicions. I was in a world I didn’t belong in. Being so wholly attached to another wasn’t healthy for either of us…” 

His gaze was long, looking into the past. “I knew for a month I was heading towards my end and when we found out, the FIRST thing Yuugi did was ask if he should contact you.” Frowning Atem turned away from Seto. “I told him no. He didn’t ask for my reasons, but I knew. I KNEW, Seto, if you had showed up that day and had told me to fight, told me to shirk fate and make my own destiny...I would have done it. Without a thought.” He chuckled. “I couldn’t DO that to Yuugi. I OWED him his own life.” 

Seto scoffed and Atem held up a hand. “Wait...I’m not finished. Yuugi and I talked long into the night after that. About what this duel would mean for him for me. He INSISTED I contact you at that point. Standing up to me and saying that you deserved to know. Still I resisted. I told him you were fine. You were building a new life just like you promised and my work with you was done.” Atem smiled softly and continued. “Yuugi became rather irate with me at that point. He said. “Mo hitori no Boku! When are you going to realize that Kaiba isn’t just someone you saved?’ I told him I couldn’t afford the luxury of seeing you as anything else. Not like this. He hugged me and told me it was going to be okay...I should have known when I asked him to promise not to tell you...He changed the subject. He never made that promise. He contacted Mokuba I’m assuming…”

Seto nodded. “Yes Mokuba.” He agreed. “You said you couldn’t afford to think of me as anything but someone you saved, but what would you have thought of me as if not that?” Seto prompted him taking a step into Atem’s personal space.

“A friend at least.” Atem said softly meeting Seto in the middle. 

“And at most?” He asked voice strangle soft for the CEO. 

“Everything.” Atem whispered before Seto closed the gap between them. 

The kiss felt like a puzzle pieces sliding into place for Seto. This was the right place. This was the right dimension. This was HIS Atem. It felt more right than anything he had ever felt and Seto had an intimate idea of what WRONG felt like. 

Deepening the kiss, standing on his damn tiptoes to kiss Seto, Atem’s hands threaded into brown strands as they slid through his fingers. He felt more than heard Seto sigh into the kiss. 

Soon the soft and sweet turned into something more heated, Seto’s tongue plunging past Atem’s lips to take, savor, explore. Atem kissed back with the same fire trying to figure ou how to get Seto out of that stupid skin tight suit. 

Of course like all good things, Mahad picked that moment to interrupt. Seto looked murderous. Did he have that same smug asshole look in EVER dimension. 

“Pardon the intrusion, Atem, but everyone is worried about you after the long legged one drug you out of the courtroom. 

Atem’s lips twitched and Seto’s eye followed suit. “Long legged one?” He hissed. 

Atem’s hand found Seto’s cheek. “Believe me when I say, that is probably the nicest thing he’s ever called you, Seto.” 

Turning to leave, Atem began to follow Mahad out, but Seto caught his wrist. “You called me Seto.” 

Atem’s eyes went wide because he had. Several times. He only THOUGHT of the CEO by his first name normally as he had never been invited to call him anything else. “I did. My apologi-”

“Dont.” He stopped him. “I like it.” Seto’s lips tugged up into a small grin that Atem promised to himself he would see more often. 

“Don’t think for one second that was the end of that kiss your majesty.” Seto teased. 

Atem let Mahad go on ahead, a knowing smile on the dark magician’s face. 

“Oh no. I am well aware, it was only the beginning.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Welp that's the end of this. I'm thinking of making a super angsty sequel, because how do they get OUT of the afterlife exactly? They can't STAY there. Seto needs to get home...What if Atem wants to go back? Tune in next time losers. 
> 
> Follow me on Tumblr on DuelingDestiny
> 
> We can scream about Yugioh or anything honestly.

**Author's Note:**

> You can find me on Tumblr at DuelingDestiny.Tumblr.com
> 
> Feel free to message me there about anything you want. I love talking about Yugioh and these nerds.  
> I JUST WANT TO GIVE A HUGE THANK YOU TO JELLYFISK FOR THE ART IN THIS CHAPTER. VOLTRON IS MY JAM. 
> 
> Reviewing makes me squeal with joy.


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